To the Editor:
The race for State Delegate is on in the 42nd District, and it is becoming quite heated. This is to be expected, however certain misinformation and media spin by candidate Greg Werkheiser (D) and others needs to be addressed and corrected.
First, Del. Dave Albo (R-42) certainly did assist with the endeavors of getting the South County Secondary School built. He was the only one who sent a representative from his office to be present at our first meeting with major developers KSI and Clark construction in 2001. From that point on, he gave us his support for the construction of the new school. He never backed down, even when others told him a public-private partnership was a flawed idea. Today, that school is a reality with a 2,470 student body.
Secondly, Mr. Werkheiser has spoken at great lengths about his anonymous college benefactor. This benefactor supposedly gave him the funds to attend college since he had no personal funding for school. My one question to him is why would you choose to go out of the great state of Pennsylvania to college especially when knowing money was an issue and knowing Pennsylvania has great schools? Wouldn't it have made more sense to go in state and save money rather than spend those "anonymous funds" to go out of state? If he was so quick to spend someone else's money on education then one can't help but wonder how he would spend our tax dollar.
Third, Mr. Werkheiser is now claiming he has helped to leverage a site in south county now known as the Old Lorton School to be used for funding for the proposed South County Middle School. Currently, this site houses buses and is an administrative center for the school system. This old school site is small and according to my records, when I researched this three-four years ago for a then financial leverage situation to build South County Secondary School it's worth was only $4-5 million. A middle school costs $47 million or more to build. Werkheiser's plan calls for placing this administrative center on the old Lorton Prison property. Since there is no current infrastructure, utilities, etc. on this site, rehabbing the prison building will result in costs of well over several million dollars to renovate. This certainly would not save the school system money and it does not keep with the Board of Supervisors unanimous vote of last January of making the former prison site a "World Class Asset." Also curious to note, as of this writing, the members of the School Board are unaware of such an arrangement made by Mr. Werkheiser and certain others.
Dave Albo has been a hard working state delegate for the 42nd District. He makes it a point to stay in touch with his constituents and work on their behalf. He knows his district and is a native of this area. His tenure and his work on transportation, education and crime speak for themselves. We need his experience in the General Assembly and I needed to set the record straight.
Elizabeth T. Bradsher
Fairfax Station
Elizabeth Bradsher is the former chairperson of the South County Education Committee; former Laurel Hill Task Force representative, Springfield District; former chairperson of the Hayfield Pyramid Solutions Group; former Springfield Education Bond representative and the South Springfield Alliance Liaison to the Springfield District.